Questions and Answers.docx

QUESTIONS WITH RESPONSES

FY21 HVAC Cooling Tower Treatment – FA440720Q0017

All questions will be answered if received via email no later than 15 September at 12:00pm.

· After the walk through it was stated that alternative bids would not be accepted. I guess my question is- how do we demonstrate our initiative to increase safety/decrease labor if not offering as an alternative? Would this just be something better to bring up if we are awarded the business? I feel like it’s a really good idea, but wasn’t sure how to present.

· Contractor needs to provide proposal based on the SOW.

· Can the pH, conductivity and hardness levels for the city water makeup to the cooling towers please be provided?

· The makeup water

· Calcium ppm as CaCOs 70

· Conductivity 565.00

· M alkalinity (PPM AS CaCOs 120 ppm

· pH 7.83

· How many brominators (for dry feed of oxidizing biocide) are currently installed?

· We have eight brominated feeders. They are located at the following facilities.

· Building 44 3 each

· Building 1900 1 each

· Building 1700 2 each

· Building 1650 1each

· Building 5160 1 each

· How many cooling tower controllers are currently installed? The basis of this question (and questions 3 & 4) is that not all systems were available for inspection. Assessing the systems after award of contract to determine necessary equipment to control tower water chemistry is a disadvantage to bidders other than the incumbent supplier since these costs have to be factored into the bid proposal however it is the assumption that the current supplier has this equipment onsite and accounted for.

· 15 Controllers. All cooling towers were available for inspection. The contractor was asked to request which towers they wanted to see,

· How many chemical pumps are currently installed?

· Two for each controller total of 30 pumps.

· How long has current (in years) control equipment been installed and will incumbent vendor be required to provide new equipment as part of this proposal?

· Amount of years unknown, and yes they are required to provide new equipment.

· I had a questions about the water treatment bids coming up. I was curious as to if the AWT certification is required and what that is exactly? Also what is it meant by remote access capabilities in the control system? Do you mean like reports sent out to email remotely? Or did you mean that you can access your control monitoring system and change parameters from your phone or computer?

· Monitor he system remotely.

· During the walk through, I had an idea about changing the solid biocide to a liquid. It seemed like there was interest as it would reduce labor and increase safety to SAFB personnel. I thought I would offer it as an alternative since it would require the purchase of 16 additional pumps. At $500/piece plus the labor for installation, that would increase our bid quite a bit, and possibly knock us out of contention.

· Contractor needs to provide proposal based on the SOW.

· Concerning verbiage located in document HVAC Cooling Tower Treatment, page 3, (viii) Instructions to Offerors, Part 1-Cover letter: “The Cover Letter shall include the Offeror’s points of contract with email address and phone number who are authorized to contractually obligate the company.” Please clarify if “contract” is correct, or should that be “contact”?

· It should be “contact.”

· Concerning emailing the proposal: Our proposal will be too large for one email.

Should we send in multiple emails? OR do you accept from online sending services? FTP?

· Multiple emails should work.

· Please verify that we should bid on replacing 16 control systems.

0. This is going to be the largest expense of the bid and considering it is one line item, there will be a large difference if some calculate estimates on 10 controllers versus 16

- There’s currently 15 controllers but contractor needs to come up with the number of controllers that will control 16 towers.

· Please provide a measurable for which we can quantify volume of inhibitor product needed (please provide at least one of the items below to allow for this, preference listed first)

a. Annual total make up water used (my SWAG on this number is 90,000,000 to 100,000,000 gallons per year), maybe estimate this based on the water bill for each building? Just let us know if the building has any other big water users such as wash stations, showers, etc

Answer: I cannot confirm total make up water.

Answer: None of the buildings listed above are large consumers of water in the facilities.

Total tonnage of Towers or Chillers with runtime estimate (I.e. seasonal operation or year around)

The chiller tonnage Building 1700

1. CH1 McQuay 430 tons Year around usage

2. CH1 McQuay 350 tons Year around usage

3. CH1 McQuay 350 tons Year around usage

Building 1900

1. CH1 Carrier Centrifugal 600 tons Year around usage

2. CH1 Carrier Centrifugal 600 tons Year around usage

3. CH1 Carrier Centrifugal 600 tons

Building 44

1. York centrifugal 300 tons Year around usage

2. York centrifugal 300 tons Year around usage

3. Trane centrifugal 450 tons Year around usage

Building 1521

1. McQuay 300 tons 6 months

Building 859

1. Trane centrifugal 100 tons 6 months

Building 1575

1. Trane centrifugal 410 tons Year around usage

2. Trane centrifugal 410 tons Year around usage

3. McQuay centrifugal 500 tons Year around usage

Building 5160

1. CH1 York centrifugal 390 tons Year around usage with plate exchanger

2. CH2 York centrifugal 390 tons Year around usage with plate exchanger

3. CH3 York centrifugal 390 tons Year around usage with plate exchanger

Building 1812 1 Chiller mag 200 tons Year around usage plate exchanger

Building 1650 1 CH1 McQuay centrifugal 250 tons 6 months C. If a or b are not available, specify a number for which everyone should base their estimate on… I.e. “Base inhibitor volume on 93.6 million gallons per year make up” gallons per year.

· Please provide a measurable for which we can quantify volume of biocide/dispersant product needed, this is typically estimated off of system volume opposed to inhibitor estimated off of makeup water (please provide at least one of the items below to allow for this, preference listed first)

a. Each Tower’s basin dimensions (LxWxDepth) and pipe size

Tank

b. Guess based on type of system Total tonnage of Towers (must let us know if they have additional sump storage or just the basin of the tower) rule of thumb is total system volume = 1.2 x (tonnage x 5).

Unable to answer

c. If a or b are not available, specify a volume for which everyone should base their estimate on… I.e. “Base biocide quantities on an average system volume of 5,000 gallons” Unable to answer

· Vendor – Do you want us to monitor them?

Requirement Owner (RO) – Monitor whatever it takes

· Vendor - How will turnover go?

Such as the existing equipment taken out and replaced with new equipment.

· Contracting Once the award is reviewed a letter of intent goes to potential winning bidder prior to 01 Oct 2020.

· Vendor – What about the product in the tank?

RO – Scott AFB owns the product in the tank.

· Vendor - What dosage rate for product?

RO – We want the vendor to tell us what is the best way to treat. The vendor needs to figure out whatever inhibitor, how to treat per 10,000 gal.

· Vendor - Do you have a total water usage?

RO – The government doesn’t have estimations. Some of the Towers have meters and some do not.

· Vendor – Can the line items be modified?

RO – Inhibitors – usually one type? The vendor needs to provide how they are going to perform

· Vendor – Will you provide a concentration?

RO – No, the vendor will.

· Are the site visits mandatory?

· The site visit is not mandatory. It simply offers a chance for vendors to actually view a HVAC Cooling Tower Treatment at Scott AFB, IL.

· What is the intent of the site visit, question and answers or walkthrough of all 16 cooling tower locations (and closed loop systems)?

· The intent of the site visit is to visit to a couple of the cooling towers. All questions during the site visit will be received via email and the questions along with the responses from the requirements owner will be posted to beta.SAM.gov under reference # FA440720Q0017.

· Is there a WEBEX or dial in number to attend the site visit online (remotely)?

· The dial in number for the site visit is 618-256-9281.

· Understanding this is a set aside solicitation 100% Small Business. Will additional consideration be given to companies with SDVOSB designation?

· No. After market research, it was determined Small Business Set-aside is the best way to go.

· Understanding the specifications of the control equipment for the cooling tower treatment and monitoring, are the current controllers owned or leased by the government?

· Current controllers are owned by an outside agency and will be removed. The awarded contractor must provide their own IAW the SOW

· Will current cooling tower control along with chemical delivery equipment such as pumps and/or brominators be removed by incumbent company if another company is awarded the contract?

· Yes

· There are 11 facilities consisting of 16 cooling towers specified. In those buildings where there are multiple cooling towers (Bldg 44 – 3 towers, Bldg 1575 – 2 towers, Bldg 1601 – 2 towers, Bldg 1700 – 2 towers) are there controllers for each tower or do the towers a combined system that only requires 1 controller per building?

· This will be determined by the awarded contractor on how they expect to meet the requirements IAW the SOW

· Is there a make-up water analysis available to assess chemistry needs for cycling the cooling towers at 3 cycles as specified?

· Information is available for Conductivity, PH and Hardness

· If higher cycle count is achievable is this something that can be used for bid purposes or added as an alternative advantage?

· To ensure everyone is compared equally, please provide bid IAW the SOW

· Please confirm that pricing for this solicitation is to be submit as cost to treat 10,000 of cooling tower makeup water? Price of treatment materials shall be per gallon and per lb is referenced as well in solicitation and price section references complete table (v) which lists incumbent products. Seeking clarification on how to submit pricing?

· Cost to treat 10,000 gallons is for proposal purposes to ensure everyone is evaluated the same.

· Pricing to complete 32 legionella samples per year to be listed separately?

· Legionella sampling will have its own CLIN and be part of the overall proposal.

· Do all of the towers run year round?

· No

· Are there water volumes of each cooling tower?

· No

· Is there chemical containment already in place or does the contractor have to provide this?

· Contractor must provide their own chemical containment

· Are there any cooling towers where it is difficult to deliver chemicals to? Example- Roof tops and or multiple steps?

· No